The Sandhill Cranes

Last weekend at Creamer's Field in Fairbanks was the Sandhill Crane Festival. Creamer's Field is a migratory waterfowl refuge and the weekend was dedicated to the celebration of the annual gathering of Sandhill cranes. Each year the cranes gather in the fields of the old dairy farm before they fly south for the winter. This year the daily count has been around 1000 cranes! Can you imagine?? There were so iuiumany birds in the fields, it was incredible.






Lee and I walked on one of the nature trails and saw three birds chasing away two others that had flown in to their territory. It was really surprising to see. They squawked loudly and did this bobbing thing with their necks where they raised up tall, then dropped down and pointed their necks straight forward as they charged. It was like an army attacking with bayonets! The two finally flew away.


We also walked away from the fields where the birds had gathered and into the largest stand of birch trees I have ever seen. The boardwalk just kept going and going through birch trees. It was really quite peaceful. I can't wait to return to the trail in a couple of weeks when all the leaves have turned yellow.



In addition to all this nature viewing, I got a pamphlet about bird-watching in the winter. There are many species of birds that will come to the feeder in the winter! I'm so excited - and relieved!

Dry Cabin Cronicles: Washing the Dishes

As you all know by now, we are living in a dry cabin. The past week and a half has been somewhat easy. I am surprised at how smoothly we have transitioned into this lifestyle. There are many things we still need to figure out, but we're getting the hang of it! I'm actually quite proud of us!

So here's how dish washing works (so far - I'm sure we'll learn new tricks as we go). We have three, seven-gallon water jugs that we collect our water in. They sit on the counter and have a faucet like spout that leans over the sink. This is our faucet. It runs with room temperature water, though, so dish washing requires some finesse.

The main thing about dish washing is to stay on top of the dishes. No more sink-full-of-dishes-from-the-week-to-be-tackled-on-Sunday for us! We must wash the dishes after we are done, or everything crusts up and we don't have additional water for soaking the tough stuff. To wash the dishes, I fill a bowl with water and heat it up in the microwave for a minute. Then I add some biodegradable dish soap and make it sudsy with the sponge. This is my washing soap, and it works exceptionally well! It makes the dishes wet and soapy - I just dip the sponge in the bowl and voila! No need to run the water over each dish first! Actually, I learned this technique from my friend Deanna when we lived in Argentina together. She had spent a couple of years living in Jordan where water was scarce. This was how they washed dishes there. So she had developed the habit of washing dishes this way. And then I began using it until my trusty sudsy bowl broke and I never replaced it. Anyway, now I'm back at it and it works really well. Once all the dishes are washed, then I rinse. We use the coffee pot to make hot rinsing water. As you pour over one dish, the others get some water too. I can easily do a load of dishes with just the sudsy water and the 12 cups from the coffee pot!

And on that note, I'm off to do a load of dishes!

The Trip: A Summary

Hello from Fairbanks! We have arrived and are frantically trying to get everything we need before work starts on Monday. For those who don't know, I was offered and accepted a full time job in an elementary school in Fairbanks. Actually, two schools; it was two part time positions put together, which means I get benefits. So big, enormous relief on that front.

Currently we do not have internet access. I am posting from a public computer at UAF. So unfortunately I cannot post pictures at this time. However, I will provide a list of the highlights of our adventure across the continent. This is a list I kept in my writer's notebook. Enjoy!

• Moose in an alfalfa field in Minnesota! We didn't know what it was at first, it was so out of place. First moose of the trip!
• Hotel in St. Cloud, MN: a tornado siren sent Otis and I to the bathroom. Otis didn't like it very much!
• Chicago: no traffic! a miracle!
• Chili's in Canada doesn't have the same menu as the US.
• Saw the aftermath of a tornado in North Dakota (happened while we were in St. Cloud). A combine was crumbled - folded in half and in half again. Amazing.
• Lee saved us from a head-on collision atleast six times on Country Rd. 52 in ND. Yikes!
• ND has corn, alfalfa, grain silos, sunflower fields (really pretty), grain silos, grain silos, trains that go to the grain silos to pick up grain, and more grain silos.
• Crossed the boarder. She didn't even want to look at all our paperwork for Otis!
• Regina, SK is pronounced in an unfortunate way. Lee and I giggled every time we heard someone say it.
• Our grill is filled with dead moths. Covered. And for some reason it attracts swarms of bees.
• Lee has trouble with the game Twenty Questions :)
• Southern SK is gross. Tar strip mining, oil and coal destruction. Esteban, SK felt more sad than any town I'd ever been in.
• British Columbia is gorgeous.
• We saw a sign that said "WATERFALLS AND DINOSAURS! ATTRACTION!" It was hilarious. We greatly regret not stopping to see it.
• The Yukon Territory is some of the most different and beautiful landscape I have ever seen. Best kept secret in North America. Kluane National Park is spectacular and other worldly. Can't wait to share pictures!
• The Alaska Highway is long and bumpy! And people drive FAST on it! An oil truck kicked up a rock that put a massive crack in our windshield. Scary.
• Alaska is beautiful. And GUESS WHAT??? It feels a lot like Rangeley :)

We're here and we're getting settled. But I'm feeling a bit sad too. Today is my mom's birthday and I'm missing her terribly. Looking forward to feeling like this is my home. More about Fairbanks and our little cabin soon!

Holy Update Catch-Up Batman!

Hello from British Columbia! Sorry for the delay in updates. We've been so tired at the end of each night! We've gained a total of three hours, so now I'm feeling a bit more awake with the sun still out!

First, an Otis update. He's doing well. He's a real trooper, that's for sure! On day 1, it took him a while to settle down. But he found a spot and stayed there. Was especially afraid of overpasses. The night of day 3 (Regina, SK) we stayed in a fancy room (Thanks Mom!). It had two rooms attached, so we think he thought he'd arrived in his new home. He still hadn't pooped, but by the next morning (day 4) he pooped twice! Everybody cheer! We were excited :) Anyway, when we left, he was so upset. He moped in the backseat and all night last night. He fought pretty hard getting into his carrier today and even yelled at us a bit a few hours into the drive. But he settled down and actually ate-a lot! (He hadn't been eating in the car). He also slept upside down and was snoring! So he's really getting the hang of it. Here's a few cute pics of his little traveling home.

Otis lounging on his favorite bed.

Otis lounged out in his cube.

Today's big events involved driving through the most vast wilderness either of us have ever seen and having our windshield cracked by a rock spit up by an oil truck. BAM KAPLOW (going with the Batman theme) Ugh. Another expense in this move. But we're okay. As for the Wilderness, I've truly never seen anything like it. The trees just go on and on and on. And the mountains in the distance are beautiful. I'd like to show you pictures, but they seem to not want to load anymore.... will try again tomorrow.

Two more days of driving to go!

Hopes and Fears

Moving to Alaska is certainly going to be a big, massive, gi-gundo change. Those who know me well know that I find change unsettling. And yet, I am feeling rather optimistic about this change. Certainly I am feeling sad and fearful of the unknown, but even more so, I am feeling hopeful of all the new opportunities the move will offer me. Here's a list of my Hopes and Fears.

What I am DREADING:
1. The challenge of making new friends. I have never really been good at making friends. It takes a long time and even then, I don't know how to really do it right. Mostly people think I'm weird. That gets old after a while, and being from NH, I'm worried I will be even more different up in Alaska.

2. The Lack of Light. On the winter solstice, the sun rises at 10 and sets at 2. I already suffer from seasonal depression, and I am TERRIFIED that I will not be able to adjust to this light. I'm afraid I'll crawl into bed and won't be seen for six months.

3. Being Far from my Family. When I made the decision to leave NYC and move back to NH, it was because (among other reasons) I felt I needed to be with family. I have never regretted that decision, six years later. My family has been such an enormous part of my life here. I will be so far away that we will have to be exact in our Skype times so that people are out of work in NH but we are not in bed in Alaska!

What I am Hoping for:
1. A Return to the Outdoor Lifestyle. Since Lee and I moved to Dover, we have abandoned our outdoorsy habits. Before, we spent most of our free time outside, whether on the river, taking walks in the woods, climbing, what have you. Dover isn't conducive to that lifestyle. I hope it won't be too cold this winter and we will be able to spend much of our free time outside, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, even taking walks in the woods.

2. Weight Loss: not being active has lead to fatness. I hope to lose the fatness by (see above).

3. A Chance to Write. More than anything, I want to be a children's book author. I want to be a writer. Currently I don't have a job and, while this is scary, I'm looking at it as an opportunity to pursue a writing career.

4. Fairbanks will feel like Rangeley, ME. This weekend we went up to Rangeley for a visit. As we drove past the Height of Land, I burst into tears. Something about that place, the feeling of being so high up, looking over something so spectacular, seeing no boats or houses, it's a breathtaking thing. I hope I can find that feeling in Alaska.